Northern Cyprus abolishes the last law in Europe criminalising homosexuality

27/01/2014

Today Northern Cyprus lawmakers abolished Criminal Code provisions which punished consensual sexual acts between adult men with five years of imprisonment.

Paulo Côrte-Real, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s executive Board, said:

“We welcome today’s vote and can finally call Europe a continent completely free from laws criminalising homosexuality. In 1981, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in its historic judgment in Dudgeon v UK case that such laws are in breach of the European Human Rights Convention and must be abolished. It took Europe 33 years to completely free the continent from these unjust and discriminatory laws.”